Neighbors

37

July 2016

Pippa's POV

"Come on! Come here!" I cooed. Max was standing against the couch and giggling. He knew how to walk while holding against the couch, or the table. But not by himself just yet. He giggled at me with his little bottom teeth showing.

"What are you two doing?" Lin asked while rubbing his eyes.

"Well, we are trying to take our first steps." I mumbled while holding my hands out. Max held out his right hand and waved. "No, no wave." I laughed. "Come to mommy." I smiled. He giggled at me then slammed his hands against the couch. I watched him sit on the floor then crawl over to me. I groaned and looked back at Lin, who was waiting for his coffee to brew.

"Maybe he's not ready to walk yet?" Lin asked while pouring sugar in his cup.

"He's been walking while holding the couch and table. I just haven't tried to have him walk on his own yet." I said while helping Max stand up near me. He continued giggling at everything. I was glad that he was such a happy baby. No one really could understand why we didn't go out more with him. I mean, it only made sense to make some really good memories with him if he could remember them. Plus, we didn't want Max being thrown into the spotlight either.

"Maybe you should give him some incentive." Lin said while sitting on the couch. I shrugged and looked back at Max. His little hands gripping onto my fingers. "Try his favorite toy maybe?" He said while sitting on the floor in front of me. He grabbed Max's favorite toy to chew on. It was his stuffed lion, but he loved chewing on his front paws. "Max! Come to daddy." He smiled while shaking the lion.

"I don't think it's going to work." I smiled. Max was more focused on trying to grab my hair. I was going to need to pull it back now that he was grabbing at everything. "Look at daddy." I pointed. Max turned his head and looked at Lin. It was cute since he made his little grabby hands at him.

"Come here." Lin smiled. Max bounced up and down and giggled. I couldn't help but laugh. He wanted to go over there so badly. I could see it in his eyes.

"Go to daddy." I laughed. I helped Max take a few steps forward towards Lin, but didn't really have much improvement. Lin had his phone out recording, just in case he did take some steps by himself.

"Come here!" Lin laughed. Max squealed and took a step by himself. I gasped and placed a hand over my mouth. Our little boy was walking! Well, wobbly, but walking! My baby boy was walking! "Come on!" Lin gasped.

"Go Max!" I smiled. He kept going through with the motions and landed in Lin's arms. "Yay!" I smiled. Lin laughed and stopped recording.

"My little boy!" He said while throwing him up in the air. "You did it! Now we get to spend every waking moment chasing after you!" He smiled. Then it hit me... I spend more time at home with him.. I was going to spend every waking moment chasing this little boy... He was already into everything... We couldn't keep anything at his height... Everything now has to be redone to where he can't reach them... "Pip? You look terrified..."

"Well... Just realized how much running I'll be doing now..." I laughed. "But it's worth it." I smiled while sitting back on the couch. I watched my two men play on the floor with each other. It was cute to see them together. Lin had so many things to do now, he rarely had time to actually lay on the floor and play with Max. I felt terrible for him. He didn't get to spend as much time as I did with him...

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Lin's POV

"Do you think that Max will grow up knowing I love him?" I asked Pippa while we got read for bed.

"Of course. Your his father aren't you?" She asked while pulling the comforter back on the bed.  I nodded and climbed into the covers.

"I just feel like these are the important years of his life. You know? I just think I should be there for him more." I frowned. "I don't want to be some dad who just wants to be in their kid's life when he wants to or when it's convenient for them.." Pippa rolled over to face me and placed a hand on my cheek. "What?" I asked.

"You're not some dad who does that. Yes, we have schedule conflicts, but you try to be there every night to tuck him in, or be there to wake him up in the morning. You make the most out of you time with him. Stop making yourself be the bad guy here." She sighed. I nodded and pulled her close to me. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." I kissed her temple and stared at the ceiling. Her head was resting on my shoulder and her left arm draped over my torso. I didn't ever want to think of anyone else in her position in my life. I was so happy to have her in my life. Things were going great, minus the amount of time I had with my son. I needed to fix that. My family was going to need to be my main priority before anyone else. I felt her breathing pattern change, knowing she was asleep finally. She hardly ever got sleep because of how rowdy Max was now. He only wanted to sleep for a few hours, then the rest of the time was play, play, play.

After a few hours of lightly sleeping, the baby monitor went off. Max was giggling through it, of course, it sounded really creepy, but what can I say? That was my kid. Pippa lifted her head up and looked at the monitor. I pulled her back down and shook my head.

"I got it." I whispered. She nodded and curled up on her side of the bed. I walked into Max's room to see him sitting up and giggling to himself about something. "Hey, you need to go back to sleep." I whispered while lifting him up from his crib. He started babbling to himself while I changed his diaper. Boy did he stink. But I did treasure these times. Even if it was just to change a poopy diaper.